Political commentary from the LA Times

Ticket Replay: Sarah Palin's book sparks attack on vegetarian critic

December 27, 2009 | 6:16
am

As the holiday season unfolds, our thoughts on The Ticket turn to
working not quite so hard for a few days. So we are re-publishing some
of our favorite or most-read items from 2009. This item originally appeared on Nov. 17.

So it's not really a surprise that her book, "Going Rogue," published today, extols the virtues of eating meat.

"If
any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then
explain my philosophy on being a carnivore," she wrote. "If God had not
intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

But the former Republican vice presidential candidate did not stop there.

A
vegetarian from Cleveland took issue with Palin. In a blog on the
Examiner, Daelyn Fourtney wrote that Palin's remarks "will surely
receive a chuckle and thumbs up from many avid hunters and steak house
patrons. It is a sad statement on our society when we applaud those who
refer to animals as the centerpiece of their dinner plate."

Now,
Fourtney is reporting that she has received a lot of hostile e-mails
from conservatives assuming her to be a left-wing pinko. A sampling of
her inbox:

* “The liberal/socialist media elites are terrified
of America's new Reagan and it's so much fun to see their PDS (Palin
Derangement Syndrome) on display...including this Fortney writer.”
–freeperjim

The
Cleveland food writer -- in some quarters now known as the "Rogue
Vegetarian" -- said her politics are separate from her eating habits.

"I
have chosen to live a vegetarian lifestyle because I believe in the
sanctity of life for all creatures," she said. "Assuming that one is
left or right based on what they choose to eat is a dangerous road to
travel."

Still, she said, she's not counting on a Christmas card from the Republican Party this year.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Palin with a caribou she shot in Alaska. Credit: Associated Press